Meetings in a Sandstorm
by MeteorLeopard
Summary: Sakura hates the desert. Hates it hates it hates it. She doesn't like the sand in her eyes or her shoes or her hair. She just doesn't like the sand. She shouldn't have asked her auntie to take her with after all... right? Or maybe not... Gaasaku  kids
1. Chapter 1

**To everyone who thought that the next thing I was going to write would be another chapter of my Bleach story, sorry. The Naruto bug bit me :)**

**I hope you enjoy my first attempt at writing a Naruto story! **

**Title: Meetings in a Sandstorm**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

**...**

The wind outside was horrible and cutting and the sand swirling everywhere was just serving to make her feel like she was being showered down with sandpaper. It was rough, it was unpleasant and it got into her eyes and made her cry. As though she didn't already cry enough.

The little girl shook her head furiously. No, there was no way that she was going to think about that. She clenched her little fists and nodded once enthusiastically to herself, furrowing her brows in determination. Yes, the whole reason that she was here to get a break. That's why she had begged her mommy and daddy to let her go with her aunty on a week-long trip to the desert. Though looking outside her small window cut from the rock, Sakura was wondering if enduring this sandstorm was perhaps worse than the teasing.

The desert was a truly dismal place.

"Saku-chan?" The head of another pinkette peeked around the corner of her doorway, her much longer and much glossier hair falling around her shoulders despite it being pulled back just a few hours before. Evidently her aunty had just gotten back inside from the howling wind that had dislodged most of her ponytail.

Her aunty, a fairly young and attractive lady in her late thirties with laugh lines and kind eyes stepped into her niece's room and sat down beside her on the bed. "Are you alright, sweety? Not homesick or anything?"

Sakura shook her head. No, she wasn't homesick per se. She wanted to see her mommy and daddy, obviously, but all the other people in the village she could do without. Well, there was that one blonde boy who was nice enough company at times when her parents weren't telling her to stay away from him. Of course, Sakura had never exactly been the most obedient little girl.

"I'm okay aunty."

Her aunt gave her a kind smile, though her eyes were lined with a tad of worry. The woman gave her normally cheerful little niece a once-over and noted the undercurrent of broodiness around her. An idea came to her.

"Come on, Saku-chan! I have an idea on what we can do!" The little girl's eyes lit up.

**...**

Sakura stared, horrified, at what lay before her. A room, warmly lit by lanterns and a few lights with a colourful rug decorating the floor and a couple of cheerful toys littering the area. The atmosphere of absolute joy and laughter radiating from it even through the doorway was reaching her along with the sound of raucous and happy laughter.

And Sakura hated it. Her small hand clung onto her auntie's larger one tightly and she stepped behind the older woman's leg, her second hand reaching up to bunch tightly in the black material of her auntie's pants.

There were children on the other side of that door.

Above her, Sakura could hear her aunty finalizing some arrangements with the lady in charge of the daycare center. Sakura sneaked a peek at her. The lady looked nice enough, even if her skin was browned and wrinkled from the sun. But it was a nice kind of wrinkled. Sort of like an apple that had been left in storage for too long. And she was smiling as she looked down at the pink haired girl.

"So little lady, are you Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded.

"It's a beautiful name."

"A-arigatou."

Motioning with her hand, the lady directed her attention towards the doorway. "The other kids are just through that door there, Sakura-chan." Sakura pressed her lips together and tightened her hands on her auntie's clothes. "Don't worry, they are all very nice." The lady's appeasing voice fell on deaf ears.

Just then, Sakura felt her aunt move and saw her kneel down in front of her. "Saku-chan," her voice was kind. "You're not normally this shy. Don't you want to try and make a friend over here?"

Sakura looked at her feet, a crushing feeling settling on her chest. She remembered words. Those words that the kids she knew back home had said. What they had called her. She clenched her teeth.

Her aunty placed a hand on her niece's head. "I have to go and take care of a bit of business and if I took you with me you'd be very bored. I have to stand in queues and loud, noisy halls full of people for hours. You'll be much happier among other children instead of me." Sakura tried hard not to let the stinging sensation behind her eyes develop into anything more.

"Besides," her auntie continued. "By the time that I come back you won't even want to leave here." Sakura gave a stiff nod, trying hard not to let her true fear show.

Her auntie stood. "I'll be back in a few hours, so don't worry Saku-chan. Enjoy yourself and make lots of new friends, okay?" she called the last part over her shoulder as she left the building.

The caretaker lady's hand came down lightly on Sakura's shoulder. "Well, shall we go?" Sakura wasn't exactly given much of a choice in the matter as the lady's hand firmly but gently led her towards the door. Sakura was petrified.

As she stepped through the door with the larger, attention-grabbing adult, Sakura wished that she could have gone in by herself. All of the children close by turned their attention to her now, unabashedly staring.

"Everyone, this is Sakura-chan. She's visiting here from Konoha for a few days." Sakura, already on edge, noticed the glances that were exchanged between some of the children. Two whispered voices with words exchanged behind secretive palms made her cringe.

"Everyone be nice to her!"

A collective, "Yes" sounded from the class of kids before they quieted down again and resumed staring at her. Sakura couldn't meet their gazes. She quickly let her eyes drop to the ground, letting her fringe cover her eyes as she normally did.

Slowly everyone went back to their games, ignoring the strange new girl. And Sakura was all too happy with that. Keeping her head down, she carefully made her way over to the nearest corner and huddled there. She pulled her small legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms loosely around them, her large forehead resting against her knees. How much she hated her forehead. Even her fringe, that she had let grow to abnormal lengths so that it almost hung in her eyes, could never hide it properly.

Muted and dulled voices reached her ears.

'…_pink…'_ They were probably talking about a girl's clothes.

'…_big…'_ That was most likely one of the boy's new building blocks.

'…_strange…'_ Just a bit of gossip in the village.

Sakura huddled into herself tighter. She shook but suppressed the motions. She was being stupid. She was being weak. And she was being irrational. There was no reason that the kids were talking about her, none at all. It was probably all in her head. Yes, in her head. She bit her lip.

'…_weird hair…'_ Perhaps it was some other girl that they were mentioning. Her heart clenched.

'…_see her fore-' _Sakura snapped. Grimacing and grasping fistfuls of her ragged pink hair between her fingers, she bolted. She didn't even stop when the lady's voice yelled after her to stop. The lady was a civilian, not a ninja. There was no way that she'd be able to catch her. Not if she ran fast enough.

Leaving her coat and just bolting straight outside, Sakura ignored the sandstorm raging there. The whipping winds and grinding sand hitting against her felt more welcoming than they had ever been and Sakura ran down the street, her little arms held high to her face to shield her stinging eyes.

She'd had enough. _Enough_. Enough of the stares, the whispers and the looks. The looks were the worst. Because they spoke more than any words could. They told her plainly that she was weird, that she was strange and that she was alone.

Alone and sad.

Turning a corner, Sakura continued running – until her small red shoe caught on a jutting rock and she tripped, falling face-first onto the sand with a dull thump. She'd gotten some of the fine sand into her mouth and she tried to spit it out. It wasn't working however, since the moment that she opened it even more sand blew in. So instead she closed her mouth and settled for swallowing the sand.

The wind wasn't as bad in this alley, Sakura noticed, and it only blew in at times when the wind direction shifted. And the sand was warm and, at the moment, soft. She lay there for a little longer, growing used to the soft sand beneath her. Her tiny hands bunched in it, letting the grains run between her fingers. She smiled slightly when it felt like water to her.

She could sleep here…

"You're sitting in my spot." A quiet voice announced and Sakura's head shot up to look for the owner, her defensive instincts rearing.

He was small, she noted, and hidden inside a large brown cloak. Through the haze of the sand she couldn't quite discern many of his features. Only rust coloured hair stood out in the shifting tan sand. And there was an aura of brooding and something forbidden about him. She hurriedly lifted herself up and used her arm to clumsily wipe away the semi-dry tear tracks left on her face where sand had already stuck.

She noticed that he hadn't moved yet and she was glad of that, both because of his formidable aura and the fact that he hadn't seen her properly yet. She figured that if she couldn't see him properly then he couldn't see her properly either. She buried her head on her arms with her knees pulled up towards her small frame.

"Sorry." Sakura noticed that she didn't sound in the least bit sorry. It was a standard response that her mommy had hammered into her. _To always mind her manners, no matter who she was talking to._ That was important.

The boy studied her prone form huddled on the sand. Why anybody other than him would even think about braving a sandstorm right now was a minor point that he set aside to maybe think about later. But she was in his spot and he wanted to be left alone.

But, judging from her position on the ground, it seemed as though she wanted that just as much as he did. He looked away from her, frowning. He wasn't going to leave. If anybody was, she would. He knew she would leave soon enough, given that he was a monster and all. She had surely heard of him and would run, crying out for her parents, at the sight of his face.

So he resolutely stepped forward and sat down a good few paces away from her, pulling his legs up in a similar fashion. He noted that she had her face hidden.

The silence stretched on between them and the boy shot the girl beside him an odd look. She hadn't run screaming yet.

Sakura, feeling a stare on her back, carefully turned her head so that half of her face was exposed and her hair still hung over it.

"Ne," he noted that her voice sounded soft and timid. "Why are you here?"

He was taken aback. Was she… trying to start a conversation with him?

"Why are you?" His tone was probably more gruff than it could have been but he didn't care very much. No matter how he spoke to people it always turned out the same. He was always left alone.

Sakura averted her eyes. She didn't like that he'd just thrown her question back at her. She frowned a bit and chewed on her bottom lip. "People talk too much," she mumbled.

He cast her a questioning look, despite himself. He was intrigued. Somewhat reluctantly, but intrigued nonetheless.

She blinked once slowly, keeping her lids lowered to prevent more sand from entering them. "My mommy told me that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it." She sniffled a little, hinting at her earlier tears. "Don't the other mommies tell their kids that? I… I'd rather be ignored than hear what they say."

She looked absolutely miserable as she hugged her knees closer to herself. "I hate being weird." Her little voice sounded so bitter.

When the boy next to her didn't say anything, she turned her green eyes back on him. "Ne… are you going to make fun of me too?"

He held her gaze and Sakura noted the black rings around his eyes. Heavy, dark black rings that made him look like he was wearing a mask of sorts. She thought that it suited him.

"No. Are you going to run away?" he replied.

"Run?" Sakura was curious and lifted her head a little. Why did he think she would run? "Don't people like you?"

The boy's eyes hardened immediately and he grimaced, his own small hands clenching at his sides in the sand. His teeth ground and his muscles tensed. "Humans are mean. They're selfish. They're stupid." He shook. "They're all the same."

Sakura listened, slightly thrown by his harsh words and then reacted like any six year old would. She pouted and tried to withhold her temper tantrum. "I'm not stupid! And I'm not selfish either."

Deciding on impulse to prove her point, she plunged her hand into her pocket and clumsily pulled out its meager contents. It was mostly sand. It got everywhere in this place.

Shrugging the fact off, she selected two little round sweets and carefully dusted them off before reaching a hand out and taking a hold of his, frowning when he put up resistance to her touch and slipping the two sweets into his palm.

He stared at her, shocked. She had touched him without even batting an eye. She was looking at him expectantly, as though she were waiting for something. When he didn't react she gave a small and somewhat irritated sigh and reached over again to take one of the sweets that she had slipped into his palm. She held it up in front of his eyes. "You eat it. Like this." And the popped the red sweet into his mouth before putting the other into her own mouth. He stiffened as she once again made contact with him. She was so casual about it.

As he grew accustomed to the sweetness on his tongue, an errant thought entered his mind. Yes, she had touched him, but he hadn't felt it. His sand armour was up and he hadn't felt a thing. To his surprise, he felt a twinge of regret enter him. He quickly brushed it off.

"Well, how is it?" She asked him, her voice somehow happy.

He thought on the red sweet for a while longer, trying to put a name to the taste. "What is it?"

Her face puckered into a confused frown. "Strawberry flavour. Don't you know?" He slowly shook his head, sucking on the sweet slower. He wondered why he hadn't had something like this to eat sooner. It tasted delicious.

And then he froze up while his eyes widened. She smiled. She. _Smiled_. At him. He half wanted to turn around and make sure that it was really him that she was smiling at. But there was nobody else besides for them outside in the sandstorm. Not in the alley anyway. She was smiling at him. _Him_.

He was stunned. She was so naive. How could anybody cause this girl, this nice girl, to cry? The evidence of her tears was still visible on her cheeks. And he could smell the salt. He had never really liked the smell of salt. It reminded him too much of tears. And tears were usually caused by other people being mean.

"Why do others hurt you?" he asked.

Her eyes, so warm a moment before, reflected the suddenness in her change of mood. They turned away and she pulled herself back into a tight bundle. She pressed her lips together again; a nervous habit that she had acquired. "My forehead," she mumbled.

It seemed like she wouldn't elaborate on the topic, though he felt confused. Her forehead? Her doleful eyes were trained ahead of her while she worried at her bottom lip. For a moment he fought with himself, his hand already half raised in front of him. He wanted to, he truly wanted to. Yet he was lingering. He wasn't sure if he should. He might scare her.

Then he remembered the twinge of regret that he had experienced just a while earlier at her fleeting touches. Steeling himself, he willed the sand armour around his hand to disintegrate. The sand was blown away in the wind, not even noticed.

Slowly, his trembling fingers came into contact with her fringe and she stiffened, turning her eyes onto him. He paused but didn't withdraw. Focusing again, he pressed his fingers further until his fingertips felt her skin. Sparks of warning shot through his system but he ignored them. The fascination of actually _feeling_ another human being after so long was his only focus. _So warm…_

He resisted the urge to let more of his small hand touch her, just to remember the feeling for longer, and focused instead on what he had intended to do. Carefully, and for the first time in a long time taking care not to hurt a person with his movements, he pulled her long fringe to the side.

Her eyes stared at him as he looked her over. He narrowed his eyes, tilted his head and frowned. Then he scowled.

"There's nothing wrong with your forehead," he decided firmly, dropping his hand and twisting his mouth into a grimace at the thought of others teasing her over nothing.

Sakura stared at him openmouthed, not even caring about the sand still swirling around them. That had been the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. "It… it's not big?"

"No." he was quickly growing irritated with anybody who might have told that lie to her.

Sakura's mouth wobbled as she suddenly felt the traitorous stinging behind her eyes again. But she blinked it away and settled for beaming at her new friend.

"Thank you."

The sincerity of that statement drove into him deeply and made his whole being ache. He grimaced again. This situation was way out of his comfort zone. He should leave.

As he shifted, her small hand caught his sleeve. "Ne, what's your name?"

He stared at her, wondering whether if he told her she'd run. But perhaps she hadn't heard of him. No, everybody had heard of him. After all, he was the reason that people trembled in their beds at night.

But her open and honest green eyes shone up at him and he found the answer slipping from between his lips before he could think twice. "Sabaku no Gaara."

He waited for a tense moment, his breathing and heart stopped. And then a small smile spread over her face. "I'm Sakura!" she exclaimed.

He wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. She hadn't shunned him.

As he stood, her hand didn't let go of his sleeve and she helped herself up with it. She turned to face him fully. "Are you going to go?"

He leveled her with a flat glance, though she surprisingly didn't flinch. She adapted quickly. "Yeah." He thought he saw a trace of disappointment flash over her eyes but quickly dismissed it as his imagination. There was nobody, not even this girl who seemed oblivious to Shukaku's murderous intent rolling off him, who would miss his company.

Sakura averted her gaze to the entrance of the alleyway where the sand was still whipping around madly and her face fell. "Ahh…" she sighed. "I ran in here without looking where I was going… How am I going to get back to auntie?"

Gaara looked at her incredulously. She had gotten herself lost? Why in the world was she running about during a sandstorm in the first place?

Glancing at her worried face, it only took a moment for him to make up his mind. He wondered why he was being so charitable and the answer wasn't hard to find. She was the one-in-a-million who hadn't run screaming for their lives, or mothers, at the sight of him. "Where do you stay?"

"Uhm… next to that carpet-weaving place."

Gaara nodded. "I can take you."

Her big green eyes turned on him, somewhat disbelievingly. "How?" She was genuinely puzzled.

He turned his back to her. "Grab onto this," he said, indicating towards the large gourd strapped to his back. In comparison to his small frame it seemed far too large and as though it could tip him over backwards at any given point.

She cast him a look that clearly said, 'Are you serious?' and he only shrugged to it. Hesitating a moment, she finally stepped up and looked to try and find the right spot to hold onto. However, with her short arms, it wasn't possible.

"It's not working, Gaara-kun." He felt an odd sensation at hearing his name being spoken so kindly. He turned towards her disappointed face and debated with himself for a moment before quickly coming to his decision. Just before he reached out to her, he disintegrated the sand armour along both of his arms and kept the satisfaction of her warmth locked up inside him. He would be sure to remember this in the future. How warm she was.

Without giving her warning, he evaporated them both into sand, earning a small surprised shriek from her as her hands clamped down on his arms tightly.

When they materialized on the street in the middle of the raging sandstorm, which Sakura was sure of had gotten worse, she immediately turned her head towards Gaara to use him as a shield against the sand. He didn't seem to mind in the least.

"Over there?" he asked and Sakura peeked a glance from underneath her arm. Spotting her temporary living quarters where she and her auntie were staying, Sakura gave a nod.

It didn't take long for them to reach the doorstep and then hoist themselves through the windows. Inside, Sakura breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank goodness… no more sand in my eyes…"

"Don't you like the sand?" he asked with a bit of trepidation. After all, he was as good as the embodiment of it.

She gave him a curious glance. "Not in a storm. But to lie down in it's nice and soft and warm." She remembered how at ease she had felt earlier in that alley lying on the sandy ground. She had almost fallen asleep. At the thought, she yawned a little and blinked twice, sleepily.

"I've got to go." He said again, turning towards the window again. The door was, after all, locked.

Giving him a lazy smile, with her green eyes glittering, she raised her hand. "See you, Gaara-kun."

He kept his eyes on her for a second before turning away. "Yeah." And he disintegrated into sand.

_Sakura. What an interesting name._

**...**

**Ta-daa! Well, what did you all think? I have to admit that I am not particularly far in watching Naruto yet but cut me some slack, I only started on Monday. **

**And to my usual readers who might have made it this far (and if you have, I take my metaphorical hat off to you) I WILL be continuing my story. Never fear! **

**So, comments on any of this? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Meetings in a Sandstorm (Chapter 2)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

**...**

**...**

She knew that she should slow down a bit and give her little lungs some rest, but her stubborn side was winning over her good sense. Gritting her teeth, she just dug her shoes deeper into the sandy road and pushed herself forward. She wasn't going to stop running until she found him!

Sakura whipped her short pink hair from side to side as she frantically tried to spot him. It shouldn't be so hard. After all, how many other little boys with rust-red hair with a giant gourd strapped to their backs did you get? Oh, and of course a strange scar on the one side of their foreheads. Sakura struggled to remember what it looked like but couldn't. There _had_ been a sandstorm after all.

She had already checked in every alley that she could find but didn't see him there. She wasn't even sure what the alley from yesterday had looked like so she couldn't be sure that she'd already checked his 'spot'. She frowned, wishing she had been just a little more observant. Her parents back home were always telling her to pay more attention to her surroundings, something that she had never been extremely good at.

Her pink fringe, which her auntie had tried to convince her to cut numerous times already, was getting into her eyes. It was so hot under the glaring sun that she was already exhausted and puffing. Her clothes, a brown robe that covered her from head to toe, was starting to stick to her. And her fringe was slapping against her moist face as well. But she'd rather have it sticking there uncomfortably than to have everybody stare at her big forehead.

She shook her head, refusing to get depressed over such thoughts. Those could wait until she found him.

The sun, now almost at its highest, had driven most of the desert's inhabitants indoors. Slowing down to an eventual stop, Sakura doubled over and supported herself on her knees, drawing in deep gasps of air. In comparison to this clear sky and unbearable heat, Sakura almost thought that she preferred the sandstorm more.

"Well, hello there little lady."

Sakura's head snapped up at the new voice. A man, sun burnt and with a spattering of liver spots covering his wrinkled cheeks, stood in the shade of an overhanging ledge. He supported himself with one hand on a disfigured wooden walking stick and with the other on the produce stand that he was currently standing behind.

"You should get out of the sun. You could get very sick if you carry on running around like that, you know?" he said kindly, gesturing for her to come and join him in the shade.

Sakura shook her head lightly, offering him a small smile. "I can't! I have to look for someone. A boy, do you know where he is?"

The man's friendly face morphed into a bigger, almost knowing smile. "Oh? And is this little boy your friend?"

Sakura paused at that. Friends? She wasn't so sure. After all, she'd never had a friend before, how could she know what friendship felt like? And they had only really talked for a little while…

"Well, I want to be his friend," Sakura told the old man truthfully. "So I'm looking for him. His name is Gaara-kun, do you know where he is?"

In an instant, the man's friendly face vanished, to be replaced by a snarling, fearful grimace. Sakura backed up a step, wondering if she'd said anything wrong. "No I don't and if I had it my way then that _thing_ could stay missing!" Turning on his heel, the man hurried back into his house, slamming the door behind him.

Sakura stared at it, her eyes disbelieving. Why had the nice old man suddenly gotten angry at her? And… he'd called Gaara-kun a 'thing'.

_He held her gaze and Sakura noted the black rings around his eyes. Heavy, dark black rings that made him look like he was wearing a mask of sorts. She thought that it suited him. _

"_No. Are you going to run away?" he replied._

"_Run?" Sakura was curious and lifted her head a little. Why did he think she would run? "Don't people like you?" _

_The boy's eyes hardened immediately and he grimaced, his own small hands clenching at his sides in the sand. His teeth ground and his muscles tensed. "Humans are mean. They're selfish. They're stupid." He shook. "They're all the same." _

Sakura lowered her head and held her fist to her chest. Was this what he meant? Were people always this mean to him?

Shuffling footsteps made her glance back up. A few wary faces were standing in nearby doorways or shady spots, glaring at her from under their hoods and making her feel uncomfortable. Why was everybody staring at her? These were adults, right? So they shouldn't… Unconsciously her hand went up to hide her forehead.

Whispers started.

'…nerve of…'

'…won't survive long…'

'…where she's holding her hand…'

'…hiding something…'

Sakura stared, shocked, at the people. She'd never been in this situation with adults before. Adults had always shown her kindness. It was the children who teased her to the point of tears. The children were mean. Adults… adults weren't supposed to be mean.

The prickling moisture behind her eyes got her moving. Holding both her hands to her forehead, she ran.

**...**

**...**

As she turned a corner, one woman leant over to her neighbour. "Did you see? That girl was holding her forehead."

The other woman nodded gravely. "In the same spot that the monster's wretched scar is."

**...**

**...**

Sakura collapsed against a wall, her back pressed up against it and her legs shivering from exhaustion. She couldn't run much further.

Reaching a tentative hand up to her forehead, she wondered if it had gotten bigger. Maybe she should buy a hat or something…

"_There's nothing wrong with your forehead."_

Sakura froze, his kind words replaying in her head. That's right, Gaara-kun had told her that she was fine. That there was nothing wrong with her. So there couldn't be.

Steeling her muscles again she pushed herself off the wall, catching her breath for a little longer. She didn't have time for a break. She had to find Gaara-kun!

**...**

**...**

Sakura idly swirled her spoon around in her soup. It smelled delicious and on any other day she would have dug right in and already been on her second helping. But right now she truly didn't feel like doing anything.

She'd been tired when she arrived back at the house that day. It was already late and her auntie had shortly reprimanded her about being out for so long and giving her premature grey hairs. Sakura had taken it quietly and then slinked off to shower before her auntie announced to her, far too cheerfully, that they were going out for dinner.

So now she was stuck here at a nice table in a nice restaurant in a nice part of town with a nice vegetable soup in front of her, feeling utterly miserable.

She hadn't managed to find Gaara at all. She hadn't tried asking anybody else if they knew where he was, figuring that she wouldn't get much out of them.

She had run around for most of the day and only earned herself a sunburn over her cheeks and hands that weren't covered by her brown robe earlier. It stung a little and hurt when she touched it.

Sakura's auntie watched her little niece worriedly. The normally happy and bubbly girl was just sitting there with her head in her hand and looking like she wanted to be anywhere but here.

She had spoken to her sister, Sakura's mother, before they had left for Suna. Her sister had told her, in no uncertain terms, that if Sakura was showing signs of making a friend to let her go ahead and grab that chance. Friendships were something foreign to Sakura after all.

The older woman sighed now, glancing back at her disheartened niece. She probably wouldn't get anything out of the little girl if she tried to pry.

Sakura continued to fiddle idly with her spoon. She still hadn't touched her food but she could sense that her auntie was watching her. Outside it was already dark, she noticed, and a bit of a storm was brewing. The sand was already starting to get restless meaning that there were probably strong winds on their way over. She sighed. Maybe she should just eat something to stop her auntie from worrying about her…

Sakura dropped her spoon with a clatter and her eyes widened. There he was.

Hopping off her chair and dropping her napkin she called, "I'll be right back auntie!"

She dodged two waiters and the doorman who tried to block her way as she reached the entrance but she just ducked under his outstretched arms to dart outside into the brewing sandstorm. "Gaara-kun!"

On the other side of the road the little boy stopped and looked up, surprised, at the flash of pink darting towards him. Gaara didn't even have time to protest before Sakura's hands were holding onto both of his and keeping them raised between them. The smile on her face made him think that, for a moment, he was the best thing that she had seen the whole day.

"Y-you…" he managed to choke out.

"I've been looking for you everywhere! You weren't hiding from me, right?" Numbly, he shook his head. What was she doing? He'd been sure that, despite their short meeting yesterday, she would have avoided him again today.

**...**

**...**

Inside, the restaurant was in disarray. Waiters had stopped, chefs had turned off their stoves and guests had abandoned their dinners in favour of staring out the windows from a safe distance. Hushed mutters and nervous whispers were flying around the room.

Glancing out the window, Sakura's auntie could see her niece chattering away to another small child, a boy by the looks of things, and positively glowing with happiness. What was all the fuss about?

A woman at the next table shot her a pitying glance before whispering to her husband. "I wonder how long it'll take for him to snap."

The pink-haired woman glanced back outside, where her niece was still smiling at the other boy. Snap? Was the child dangerous?

Another old couple were frowning in distaste from their seats, making no move to do anything. "That poor girl."

"Why is she even _touching_ him?" a younger, more nervous woman hissed to her friend, who nodded in agreement. "She's dead."

Slamming her hand down on her table, the pink-haired woman stood and glared around the now-silent restaurant. "That's quite enough! What's going on?"

**...**

**...**

Sakura was still holding onto his hands with that same, glowing smile etched onto her face while she chattered away about nothing at all. It seemed as though she were genuinely happy to see him and Gaara just stared at her, not being able to say anything. He was too thrown to do anything more than continue to watch her.

She was happy to see him.

It was a foreign concept to him. And, strangely, he was liking it.

Her hands were still tightly gripping onto his, like she was worried that if she let go he would disappear. Slowly, so as not to scare her, he willed his sand-armour to disappear around his hands. Immediately he could feel her warm skin press against his own.

Somehow, with her genuine smile shining at him, her kind voice speaking nice words to him and her gentle, warm hands holding onto him, a rare feeling of comfort settled over his shoulders. Carefully he moved his fingers in hers until they gripped onto her too. She made no move to shy away.

"Ne, ne, Gaara-kun, we should go to the park later on! We can go dig in the sandbox, or I can push you on the swing! I've never been on a seesaw with anybody else so it was no fun at all, but with you on the other side, Gaara-kun, I'm sure it'll be nice!"

_She seems so… happy around me_. He felt himself warming slightly at her words, actually looking forward to what she was describing.

Sakura turned her back then, extracting one of her hands from his grip, and laughing. Unconsciously, his hand reached out for her.

The door to the restaurant flew back and slammed against the wall, yellow light spilled out onto the darkened street and made both Gaara and Sakura wince from the sudden harshness. Silhouettes were standing in the doorway and windows and a few daring ones cluttered onto the street.

They were yelling. "Get away from the girl!" "Leave her in peace!" "Go die, you monster!" "Monster!"

A woman with pink hair pushed her way through the mob, staying just in front of them and not daring to come any closer. "Saku-chan! Come on sweetie, come here quickly!" Her arms were outstretched, beckoning.

"_Demon!" "Get out of our village!" "Die!" _

Beside her, Gaara's head dropped down and shadows formed over his face. His hands had fallen to his sides, balling up into trembling fists. Sakura could feel him shaking.

"_Leave us alone!" "Disappear!" "Go die!" "Monster!" _

The sand beneath their feet began to shift.

"Saku-chan! Came back here quickly! Quickly!"

A whip of sand lashed out at a pillar supporting the overhanging roof above the mob. Screaming, they all scattered, pushing and shoving one another, stepping over each other in their haste to not be crushed.

"_See? Monster!" "He could have killed us!" "He wanted to!" "He did!" "Get rid of him!" "MONSTER!" _

The sand reared again, poising for another strike.

Her auntie's frantic voice rang over all of the terrified yells of the villagers. "SAKU-CHAN!"

Sakura whimpered, clasping her arms over her head and sinking to her knees, curling herself into a small protective ball. Her auntie was calling her; she should go. The people were scared of Gaara-kun; she should be too. Gaara-kun was attacking those people; she should run!

"_Get lost!" "Stop it!" "Monster!" "Saku-chan!" "Die!" _

She didn't want to hear anymore. She didn't. Her body curled in on itself tighter. Enough… it was enough. No more.

"Sakura…"

She froze up.

"Sakura…"

That had been Gaara-kun's voice. Carefully she risked a peek from under her arms. Noise and dust assaulted her again and she half wanted to hide herself once more and ignore it all. But the single tear rolling down his cheek stopped her.

"Sakura…" His voice cracked as he reached an arm up to rub at his eyes. "Don't leave. Please, don't leave me alone."

His voice sounded so hollow. Hesitantly her hand reached out to grip onto his pants. "G-Gaara-kun?"

"_Kill the demon!" "Get rid of it!" "Monster!" _

He couldn't handle this any more. Gripping at his hair, he cringed at the loud, abusive yells. He noticed Sakura's hand tugging questioningly at his pants, trying to get his attention. No thoughts given to his next action, he roughly slapped her hand away, getting free.

And then, trying to block out all of the yells still coming at him, he vanished in a swirl of sand, blasting the wretched stuff outwards and blinding the yelling mob.

As the sand stopped, the crowd became oddly quiet. The pink-haired woman lowered her arms, trembling and frightened of what she might find. Her little niece… bruised and broken? Her soft child-like skin roughed from the sand? …dead? She pried her eyes open just a little, terrified.

Sitting numbly, disorientated and completely unharmed amidst the sand, was Sakura. Blinking, the little girl glanced around, trying to find something. The sand in the immediate area around her was smooth and even whilst further away from her, where the sand had raged, the ground was jagged and rough. Carefully she traced her hand over the smooth sand beside her knee. "Gaara-kun?"

He was gone.

"SAKURA!"

**...**

**...**

**Alright, so originally this was only supposed to be a one-shot but some lovely reviews that I got changed my mind. So now it's a three-shot.**

**Also, and most importantly, I wish the best to Japan and all of the people there. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Meetings in a Sandstorm (Chapter 3)**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

* * *

He gripped at his hair, running his fingers through it repeatedly, trying to distract himself. His efforts were in vain however. The beast inside of him was furious, snarling at his vessel, whispering sweet venomous nothings of why he hadn't just let loose and killed all of those pathetic, cowering humans who hadn't dared to move from the 'safety' of their masses.

_Why didn't you let me have fun? _

_Why did you let them live? _

_Why didn't you kill them? _

_Kill them! _

"Ugh!" Gaara choked back the dry sob that had lodged itself in his throat, constricting it painfully.

He fisted his hands in the sand now, leaving his hair, trying to rid himself of Shukaku's deceptive whispers. He had been close, so close, to giving up restraint and just letting Shukaku deal with the hurtful humans who had been yelling at him.

Monster, they said? They would have run from him had he really let them see how truly monstrous he could be.

But he hadn't, instead chosen to flee. He could still feel that small hand holding onto his pant leg hesitantly before he had swatted it away, leaving her sitting in the sand.

Inwardly, he cursed himself for letting them be seen together. Sakura-chan was naïve, unknowing of what he was. That's why she was nice to him. That's why she hadn't run away from him. Letting others see her around him would have obviously brought about this reaction. Why hadn't he realized this sooner when she had run out of that restaurant? He was so stupid.

By now her head would have no doubt been filled with stories and tales, both true and not, of what he was and what he'd done. And she would be scared of him too and the next time that he saw her she would run from him, screaming.

He gritted his teeth at that thought. Somehow having Sakura-chan, the only one who had even remotely come close to him in any way, run from him was more painful than having strangers yell at him and call him demon.

It hurt a lot more. Was it like Yashamaru said? Love could heal a heart? But why did it hurt so much to lose it? Somehow like the hurt had just increased? Gaara lowered his head. He didn't want to see Sakura-chan run from him. He didn't.

But, at least now, she'd be able to make other friends, right? Because as long as she was around him no other kids would come close to her. She could make friends with other kids. Other kids that weren't him.

A pang of something drove through him, an emotion he knew very well. It was the same emotion that he felt every time that he saw families, mothers and fathers walking together with their sons or daughters, laughing.

Jealousy.

He grimaced and frowned. He didn't want to lose Sakura-chan. He wanted to go see her again, to have her smile at him and for her warm hands to touch him again, to give him that physical comfort that he was so starved of.

But… what if she ran?

* * *

Sakura's deepest wish, at that moment, was to be anywhere else.

"Saku-chan, what were you thinking? Acquainting that child and actually going close to him. Don't you know how dangerous he is?"

Sakura felt like saying, "Don't know, don't care." But she didn't. Instead she focused on the weaving pattern of her brightly coloured carpet above which she was currently swinging her bare feet from her seat on her bed. Her room, brightly lit whilst another miniature sandstorm swirled outside, provided strong shelter from the cold night that had by then drawn in.

"He could have killed you, do you understand? Killed you! You would have been dead! And your parents, oh, what would your parents say?"

Sakura grimaced. Her auntie had just pulled the guilt card. But she wouldn't believe the lies. She wouldn't. Gaara-kun wasn't mean. So she fixed a blank, disinterested look onto her face, trying to get her auntie to stop talking like that. But apparently it was only making her more agitated.

The older pink-haired woman steadied herself, taking a deep breath. "Three people were injured when that overhang collapsed, Sakura. Two of those had to go to hospital for serious wounds." The little girl's calm composure twitched. "Nobody died this time, but it was far too close. He easily could have killed somebody. So easily. That boy is dangerous, Sakura. Very dangerous. The villagers see him as a curse-"

"Stop it!" Sakura bit her lip, fisting her hands into the bed sheets at her sides. She didn't want to hear anymore mean things about Gaara, her friend. "Stop it," she repeated more softly this time. "Please."

Her aunt's composure softened just the tiniest bit but her voice remained hard. "Sweetie, I know this must be tough, but I have to ask you to stay away from him."

"I don't want to," Sakura glared up at her auntie through her fisted hands. "Gaara-kun never did anything wrong. People are just mean to him!"

"Sakura, he is a monster."

"He's not!" she stubbornly cried.

"He is!" Her auntie's normally gentle and soothing tone vanished and Sakura drew back, not used to the woman's snappish yell. "Listen. It's not his – Gaara's – fault. But he is a monster." Sakura raised her head as though to argue and her auntie held up her hand to silence her. "No, just listen. When he was born, a monster was sealed inside of him. He's like that demon-kid back in Konoha, only far more dangerous. He's unstable, Sakura." Sakura felt her auntie's warm hand hold gently onto her shoulder.

"He's killed people before."

_Killed_. Sakura froze up.

Nodding, her aunt took note of her niece's reaction and wary eyes. "Sakura. Stay away from him."

The little girl didn't move and for a moment the woman wondered if she had been too harsh.

"But," Sakura's voice came out as a whisper. "He's… he's my friend."

Standing, her aunt closed her eyes for a while. "Sakura, a monster can't have friends."

Numbly, Sakura stared at the floor. When the door softly creaked open and then shut again, the lock falling into place, she knew that her auntie had left. Now she was alone.

Again.

Pressing her trembling lips together, Sakura tried to banish that thought from her mind.

_I wish Gaara-kun were here…_

She sniffled and wiped at her nose with her sleeve, not really caring for the moment if that was unladylike. There was nobody there to see her anyway.

A monster… Her auntie's words replayed over in her head. All of those people yelling outside of the restaurant. They had seemed so scared of him but so angry too. Had Gaara-kun really… really… _killed_ people?

Sakura shook her head. She didn't want to believe it. Gaara-kun was a nice person. He was her friend. She wanted him to be her friend. He was kind, like her auntie and her mommy and her daddy. She knew that. He was nice. He couldn't have killed people.

Sakura stopped shaking her head suddenly, her eyes opening slightly wider as she realized something.

Her parents had killed people. They were ninja, it was part of their job. It was just that up until that point she had never had to think of that before. She had never had to realize that her parents had to sometimes kill other people in order to stay alive themselves. So, was it the same for Gaara-kun? But he wasn't a ninja, was he?

But people never shouted at her parents like those outside of the restaurant.

"_Three people were injured when that overhang collapsed, Sakura."_

Gaara-kun had scared her there. When he had attacked those people he had been scary.

"_When he was born, a monster was sealed inside of him."_

Her auntie had said that and those people had kept calling him a monster. Was he really one? Sakura wrapped her arms around herself a little tighter.

"_He's killed people before."_

Had he really?

"_Sakura. Stay away from him." _

Stay away from her friend? She couldn't!

"_A monster can't have friends." _

A tear rolled down her cheek. Gaara-kun… wasn't her friend?

With a bang and a quiver of shaking glass, her windows burst back on their hinges. Yelping, she dove under further into her bed, yanking the duvet clumsily over her head, only half managing to cover herself. She trembled as she tried to calm her nerves.

"S…Sakura-chan?"

Carefully, not fully daring to believe that it was him, Sakura peeked out from behind the covers. She froze and, against her will, her hands trembled.

Standing just inside her window, the panes still standing wide open and the sandstorm blowing inside in drifts now, stood Gaara. His eyes were wide and questioning, the black rims around them making them seem larger than they really were. He had his hands fisted at his sides loosely, sort of hovering there, unsure of what to do with them at the moment. His brow was furrowed, showing that he was frowning even if he didn't have eyebrows to show that he was tensed. And he was chewing lightly at his bottom lip.

Slowly, Sakura sat up again, still holding onto her blanket despite having lowered it a little now. "Gaara-kun…"

He just stared at her, though he couldn't help feeling a slight tug at the hesitant way that she spoke his name. It seemed that she was on the brink of either running towards him… or away.

He drew in a breath as though to say something but paused, not sure of what he was supposed to say or what was the right thing to say. "Sakura-chan… I…" He paused again, hesitating, and averting his eyes. He was too scared. He couldn't do it.

Lowering his head to stare at the floor, he pressed her lips together for a moment. "Sorry."

He began to turn on his heel, already feeling the wretched feeling in his chest as the loneliness crept back, when a rustle of sheets sounded just behind him and, not a second later, two arms were wrapped securely around his waist. The unexpected pressure on him sent him tumbling over and onto the floor, bringing the other person down with him.

They never hit the carpet though as the sand that had blown in through the window suddenly gathered beneath them, cushioning the fall instead and muting the noise.

As he glanced down, Gaara noticed Sakura latched onto him tightly. Oddly, he could feel her warmth already. His sand armour had just simply dropped as she had approached him without him noticing. Taking note of it, he realized that the armour around his whole body had just disappeared.

Completely.

_Why didn't the sand stop her? _

As Sakura carefully unhinged her arms from his waist and tried to push herself into a sitting position, Gaara decided that those facts didn't matter. He'd worry about them later. Carefully he tried to help the girl to sit up, not entirely sure where to hold onto her without hurting her or how tightly to hold onto her either. He didn't want to hurt her.

In the end, he just sort of took hold of her upper arms and helped to push her up gently. Then, seeing her hair in disarray, gingerly brushed her fringe out of the way.

She had her eyes closed though Gaara could still see the tiny bit of moisture that had gathered around the edges of them. And she offered him a quivering smile.

"Sorry, Gaara-kun. I was almost mean to you too."

He stared at her for a second before he registered her words. "Sakura-chan…"

Her tentative smile broke into a larger one and she opened her eyes again. "Besides, I can't lose my friend. We are friends, right, Gaara-kun?" Her question was edged with a plea.

Gaara stayed silent for a moment. Friends. "I've never had a friend. I don't know what friends feel like."

Sakura's smile dimmed a little but she looked at him for a while, contemplating something. "Well… I don't either. But it doesn't matter, right? You can be my first friend and then I'll know what friends feel like. And you too, Gaara-kun."

She stuck her hand out to him, forming a little fist with her pinky finger extended. "Promise?"

He gave her hand a strange look. "Promise what?"

She puffed up her cheek, a little embarrassed but determined to continue. "Friends, obviously. Friends."

Understanding dawned on his face. He'd seen other children perform this gesture a few times, though he'd never actually done it. Hesitantly he extended his own hand with his pinky finger straightened.

"No, other hand," Sakura told him.

Hurriedly he exchanged his hands and hid the wrong one behind his back. Ignoring his mess-up, Sakura hooked her little finger around his one and gave him an excited, somewhat tensed smile. She hadn't done this either, aside from with her mother.

"Friends forever. Pinky promise," she told him.

He nodded. "Promise. Friends."

The word was alien on their tongues but nevertheless significant. Even when Sakura left the next day, not to return to Suna for a few years to come, they remembered.

Because they were first, and best, friends.

_It's a promise._

* * *

**A/N: Okay, it's done! I'm officially slapping a complete on this! I hope that the cute (and somewhat cheesy) ending helped to make up for the depressing ending to the second chapter.**

**Please leave a review on your way out for this final chapter! **

**Thank you for reading and stay tuned for future Gaasaku fics of mine. **


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